A blog about our life in Sant Cugat between 2007 and 2015, strange discoveries, amusing local news, politics, economics and cute stories about kids.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Overcrowded Prisons in Spain

Interesting article in Qorreo about Spain’s overpopulated prisons. I was surprised that Spain actually has one of the lowest crime rates in Europe, but has one of the highest per-capital prison populations (166 per 100,000).

About half of the people in prison in Spain are on some kind of drug related charge.

Spain’s crazily inefficient judicial system doesn’t help, with many people waiting in prison for years until their trial (many are foreigners, who rarely get granted bail unless you are a big shot Mafioso).

Of course, this is still nothing compared to the US with a rate of 754 per 100,000.